Making a WMP54G work on Windows 98

It seems that there are a lot of Win98 machines out there that will NOT work with the Linksys WMP54G wireless network card.
You can Google your head off about it and most of what you'll find is that it simply does not work. However, there are the occasional posts detailing that they have it working under Win98 as well as other systems. How odd?

The process goes something like this...
First off, DO NOT INSTALL THE PCI CARD YET!
Get the new drivers from Linksys
Install them by running the setup from the folder you just unzipped.
When the PC tells you to reboot, simply power off.
Remove the case and install the card
When you reboot, the computer will automatically finish installing what it needs to get the card functioning. It will then go straight into scanning for any nearby access points or other wireless bretheren.

If the process does NOT happen as above, then this is where the problem appears to be. The other Win98 PC I tried it on would sort of install it, and the closest I got to making anything happen was Windows telling me that "There may be a problem with your card....etc". Looking closer at the hardware revealed that although I had indeed installed the drivers many times, it would just NOT seem to take. Reinstall the drivers, all looks well. Nothing cooking with the card. Take a look, and Windows still wants to know, "Hey man, like totally install the drivers, will ya?"

You can see the card listed in your hardware but cannot make the drivers stick. No matter what version you use. So all in all, it seems to be a motherboard type of thing. Second (make that third as I tried on a completely different Linux box but could not get anywhere with that, but hey, it's Linux, thats greek for impossible, isn't it?) PC I used it was flawless and began to work ok. Although by now it was three in the morning, so I got no further than a half asleep celebration which consisted of lying on the floor surrounded in freshly knocked over case screws, being told by the kitten that at my age I was being pathetic and should go to bed now.

Looking through many posts about this card turned up a lot of people who seemed to crash their systems when this card was installed. Even WinXP, of which more people reported success, but still a healthy percentage cried about all of it. If I had known this before I tried it, I would not have bothered and gone with another brand. It seemed only luck that it worked with one of the motherboards I had.

May the force be with you.


Wrong motherboard and you're dead

What do you think?

You will be seeing more of this wonderful custom made chap soon....
Thankyou more than ever Iris

Virtual Worlds

Just found a rather weird little site, called Virtual Worlds Review which seems to be full of up to date links, and descriptions of online virtual communities. One to watch I think..


3D seems complicated, but worth the trouble.

SIMS ARRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!

Someone has to tell me what the thing with The Sims is, PLEASE! You simulate living your life? Er.. I am lost already, and YES I have tried 'playing' it. There is nothing that is remotely interesting.

The reason for this protest is that over the Christmas period, I was deluged with this Sims virus. What DOES one DO in this game apart from live? It's like an evil version of Little Computer People, all over again. In that ancient game you simply had to keep a little chap (and sometimes his dog) happy in a house. Techno Fish tank kind of thing. Try this link (courtesy of ZZap64) for worryingly detailed info on The Little Computer People, which apparently (although I do not remember this aspect) it was sold as a research project, in where you had to study the tiny PC peeps.

Well you may have guessed I am NOT a Role Playing, simulation, or strategy, type of person. I like anything that moves good, the faster the better (and I mean REALLY fast) and you can interact with, not watch like some broken movie.


The Sims, it's death to what ever brain cells you have!

Christmas things

Well the Christmas (or what ever the heck I am allowed to call it over here in Yanky-doodle-ville) sort of ends rather abrubtly. I mean, I got mail this morning. Coming from the UK, one is quite un nerved to see something hanging out of my slot this early on after the big day.

Meanwhile back somewhere near the point.....

During my final countdown, I was accosted by a person who had the job of giving away those completely useless computer gaming magazines. You know the ones, they show you all those games that have been out for ever, and also the ones that have been COMING for ever. (Sort of like the VCR/DVD offer booklets you get in the mail. Showing some ancient movie with Bill Murry in it, The Blues Brothers, Ten, Animal House, On Golden Pond.... I think you know what I am getting at. Will these things ever die??)

Flicking quickly through the usual array of sad games which everyone knows are crap and can work it out just by the fact that a game only out for two weeks now costs $7.99, where as other more sustantial titles seem to be in their third year, and STILL around the $40 mark. I came across a rather interesting device for viewing PC content on the PS2.

The GameShark Media Player for PS2 by er... Gameshark, lets your PlayStation2 share your wireless network (or probably wired if you prefer your paranioas more justifiable) of computers, and can access content within the network itself.

I can see that this could be useful for those wishing to show images on the television, or listen to the BIG sound system, which is typically never near all that computer gear. I just want to try it out.

BUT

You need to get your Playstation2 hooked up with a network adapter, otherwise there is no way of getting all that wasted computer stuff, INTO your gamebox, and onto the TV.


A PS2 network adapter, yesterday.

The network software is made by BroadQ. Not much in the way of early adopters letting people know if it really is a good deal or not. I don't have a network adapter as yet, but I think this could just be the er... research I have been looking for to justify one....(Five year old girlie tittering ensues)

Those of you familiar with what I was talking about can leave us now, as I want to clarify information for people who are trying to figure out just what the heckitty heck a GameShark Media Player for PS2 exactly is.

It is a disc you put into your Playstation 2 and it will allow you to show images, or listen to audio that is stored on your PC. You must have the PS2 network adapter before you can do this, as it's the thing you plug some network cable into, which ultimately ends up in your PC.

Exactly the way a broadband modem plugs into your computer, or router, is the way you would plug your PS2 into the system. If you have a router it is easy as you more than likely have a spare socket to plug into!
Linksys even make a nifty little Wireless-G Game Adapter (the WGA54G) specially for this type of thing.

So hearing music on the surround sound in the living room, will be better than those $5 speakers that came with your PC. The images will look different, but still jolly nice.

If by ANY chance someone actually reads this, and has (or is going to get) one of these, please leave a comment here and let me know how it goes. You will be famous if you do, so be prepared to be able to handle all that..

Ok Merry Christmas

....from another unread blog. There has got to be something about all these web pages that nobody looks at. Like before blogs were big and people used to sign up for endless amounts of free web space, make one long "Welcome to my pictures of my (insert fluffy animal name here)" type pages.

So moving swftly on, Radmilla will have to excuse this blatant stealing of certain Google-grabbing tactics.

With today being Sveti Nikola (St. Nicholas Day), there should be a lot of... well, I think I don't need to finish the sentance...


No image as I could not bring myself to complete the deception....

Late shopping woes

I don't have many traditions of my own. One I tend to be left alone and 'enjoy' is my thing of shopping on December 24th for presents. So after a long day searching for things and this year finding little, I returned to base to wrap the remaining pressies and then discovered this...


Bugger!

The Best Buy it came from closed VERY early, so no rushing back to exchange it before tomorrow. Oh well in a couple of days, a very deserving person is going to get a nice surprise.

New There Client

Seems the powers that be at There.com have finally released a new There client. It's 90MB of download goodness. Wow, this stuff should be made essential. Along with a firewall and good virus protection.

Anyway it seems that as of right now, you can go in with the earlier version, so no probs there.

Lately an enquiry to a There Helper on ICQ revealed that some peoples problems logging in(Mine included, you don't think I would bother finding out if I didn't need to did you?) is something they are unable to track in the system. You seem to not be able to log in, even if someone else can on the same pc.

Here is what the mysterious There Helper had to say on the subject;
"Okay, what you're encountering is something that we're still trying to fix. avatars are getting into this state and timing out. The exact cause is not known, but it's always fixed itself in a few hours or overnight.
ThereHelper: I'm afraid there's nothing that can be done except wait for it."

Which I did, and all was well again. THe uninstall of the last version of There is taking for ever, and there was mention of changing the entire structure of the install but I think it is going to happen in the next version. Who knows?


Check here to see if your computer can cope with There

Need for Speed Underground. Neeeeeeeeeeeeoooooooooooww!!

Just been hypnotised by the latest zoom fest from EA Games. Need for Speed Underground. The demo is as far as I have gotten to owning it, and I think this will be the start of a long and happy relationship.(Oh God, can't wait to see the children, BLETCH!)

It's my version of a game. Lots of physics, immense speed, and very intense. None of this, "Oo lets click on this and see what the computer decides the outcome should be" or "Oh wow, I need to eat now, go to bed and take a leak".

The demo has you speeding through what looks to be a china town area in some city somewhere. When you do spill the car or leave the ground because of the physics I mentioned earlier, you get a remote view. This is done perfectly, as it lets you see everything from a more TV angle, but does not last long enough to break the flow of a deliciously frantic game. The streets look wet, and reflect all the neon of the city, as it zooms by. There are a few non-racing cars here, as well as roadside objects which are all subject to your mercy. I even discovered that I could play ONLINE with this demo, although after one race it seemed difficult to get anyone to accept a challenge (as the game words it). Wow, the internet IS fast, it seems my legendary sucking at this game, although less than ten minutes old, got round nearly as quick as the cars in this demo. You and four computer apponents, who WILL speed off given an inch (or maybe less!)



Krysss.Com Blog Score
92%

The problem is should I buy it for the Gamecube, PS2 or PC?

DMCA Not Applicable to P2P??

Tech News World is reporting that a court has ruled that the RIAA's version of dishing out lots of subpoenas, just by getting them rubber stamped, is not right.

So in essesnce this means that they will have to go through all of the traditional lawsuit processes, in order to get a result. They claim to be conintuing with filing, but cannot get the identities unless they have proof, and have to er.. prove it.



DMCA Definition

Powerpoint, keep away!

I just wanted to share this little piece with you about how the New York Times have decided that PowerPoint makes you dumb.

Apparently they were commenting on how companies use this to convey more and more meaningful messages. I think the whole Powerpoint thing is more as one insightful poster commented at Slashdot.

"....long before PowerPoint existed, I've noticed that top execs *demand* presentations in the form made easiest by PP. Their days are a non-stop parade of presentations designed to sell them on one idea after another. They want the minimum information necessary for them to be able to make what they (and NOT the presenters) consider a sufficiently well-informed decision...."

Personally I HATE PowerPoint. I get no end of questions about it. Strangely enough from people who know what it is and want some sort of inside angle on it. It seems to be the only software I get so many questions from people who already know it (and probably use it) but the questions are all as if they have never even seen it before.

Look people, there is nothing more to it than about four short lines of text which whizz in from random sides of the screen, and then a checkerboard transition to the next slide OK!!!? No good for anything except trying to get shallow concepts across to people with the determination to have less time to watch your presentation that you originally told them it was going to take.

Have we made ourselves clear?

Good


PowerPoint! Patooey!!

Getting Tivo in Canada

I found out today from LillyWonker that Tivo service is not available in Canada! How can this be allowed to happen?

So after a swift visit to the Tivo Forums, it seems there is a Yahoo group, which details how this can be done. Normally with this much messing about and some real world legal issues, I would say that it wasn't worth it. However, after using the Tivo service myself (all legally in America) I would reccomend that any Canadians watching give it a whirl at least!

The basics appear to be;
Series one Tivo
An American billing address
A Tivo unit purchased in the United States
DirectTV service (to obtain the programming itself)
And I did not get as far as finding out if you had to use a US telephone number (because the thing has to call home sometimes). Unless one wanted to use just the basic service, which would be oodles better than none at all!

If by any small chance anyone tries, let me know. I would be very interested to know how you fared, and just what are the details.

The Yahoo Group on the subject seems very secure in that you have to supply proof of Canadian residency, by IP and other assorted worrying details.



Tivo CAN happen in Canada

Merry Christmas

This is my Christmas Tree. I mean MY tree. I booked this one over two years ago! I went real posh. All the lights are pre-wired and attached to the tree. You just take out the three sections, and the branches just fall into place! It took longer to unwrap it from the box than the entire decorating took!

Christmas Tree Survey follows;

Real or Fake - Definately fake
(Who in their right mind wants pine needles in everything for eight months of the year?)

Tinsel - Yes
(Not those little wooden toy things, which all fall apart and you seem to think there is some wonderful heartwarming family story behind it's very existance)

Amount of Tinsel - Maximum
(It's got to be bending under the weight, or until there is no way you can tell there is a tree under it all)

Balls - Yes shiney ones.
(Of course, because they shine)

Chocolates - It's the law
(Everyone starts off knowing that there are chocs there, but the general concensus is that nobody should eat them, until an as yet unspecified time. With the added complication that everyone accepts this ruling, although nobody seems to wonder why this is in place, and just WHY you cannot eat them yet, or WHEN exactly the comsuming is supposed to be legal again. Consequently, the entire crop of hanging chocolate coinage, slowly migrates to a place that is other than the branches of the heavily laiden tree. OO a mystery ensues)

Presents under the tree - Yes
(Everyone gets fair crack at the shake it, bash it, knock it, or just plain old sneaking around and viciously deying any such foul play that would indeed have left a trace of wrapper-tampering!)


My Christmas Tree (Me 2003)

Now the reason you are not seeing the whole thing (six foot white and blue marvel that it is) is that my crusty old digital camera is simply rubbish. The colors are washed out (the image above was altered in Photoshop) and unless you have more light than the stadium at the SuperBowl, you can't see a thing in any of the images.


Kodak DX3500: See even the publicity images of it are all blurry!

What I am severely hinting at is a Canon ZR60 for Christmas..... I'm not proud, and you know it would be going to a good home. I don't need much for web work, but with the rise in broadband, the images can afford to be a little crisper you know.


The Canon ZR60, I may be in love...

Tivo with built in DVD burning!

Have they gone insane? This is exactly what people want, in this apparently digital only age...

The Pioneer DVR-810H-S DVD Recorder with Tivo. After using a Tivo for what seems like forever now, I would say this is top of everyones Christmas list for sure. Keeping your favourite shows on a DVD for all time, really completes the picture (If you will excuse the pun) and continues a growing trend of manufacturers giving you what you want, and is actually useful!

Going a little geekier into this, there is network support, so no problems there integrating it into the whole house set up. If you have never networked anything, not even a couple of computers, you should. You do not know how revolutionary it is. I think I should start putting simple tips for people that need a slight shove in the right direction to get them started.

I have found that it's not the in depth knowledge that people cannot find, it's the starter stuff. The real, "What is it actually for?" type of questions that people don't think they need to answer about all sorts of topics. You can Google your brains out, and come across a ton of ultra-technical specifications on even seemingly simple subjects. But you may have noticed there are seldom answers to the most basic of questions.



Looks boring, but who cares? You look at the television don't you?

Another famous sighting?

Did I see Alanis Morissette while shopping in Kohls? I doubt it, but you never know...



Alanis was probably not working there...

Hamster makes an exit

The same day that the Twinkle departed, one of the two remaining hamsters decided to join her. One left, and the whole tank to herself.



Bye Hammie

Axim backup battery replacement

Wow, I didn't realise it had been so long since I had gotten my Dell Axim. I needed to replace the backup battery over the last couple of days, and so I toddled off to BestBuy and got myself a Duracell 2032, replacement battery.

The cover was a bit fiddly, but you just press down on a little black tab and it slides off, pop out the old one, pop in the new one and you are good to go. All for two dollars something.

Anyway it appears that I got the Axim in April of last year and did not have to replace the backup battery until now in December 2003! That makes it 20 months! Mind you I was never one to let it get run down, and if I did it was on long commutes. It was always back in it's cradle for sleepytime.


I still love it, but mine has a case, so it still looks as shiney and new as this one.

Lost

Twinkle the cat (no I am not resonsible for naming her) seems to have simply not returned... Could this be what is happening to her? I hope so.. and why is it always the nice ones that seem to be taken so quickly...?

Sad

Yours truly is hoping that she found a nice old lady somewhere, and is enjoying the way that only old ladies have, of feeding and making a fuss of her until Twinkle has to go back to sleep to get ready for the next round of eating.



Bye Twinkle

Reason for blogs existing...

Radmilla wrote a little peace about some crappy formula television show. I agree that these people always come across as actors trying to get exposure, because the world is familiar with TV people making something out of the probable HOURS of footage, they must shoot for these things (the ones that are not completely scripted). So know that things may, and probably will be portrayed in any manner which is not too difficult to understand, and not exactly subtle either. But definately stretching the bounds of reality as to why and how these people react the way they do. Er... apparently

Oh where was I......

Speeding past a ton of what you already know about what is happening with television shows, onto the point of all this which is that blogs are REAL reality. And anyway, what ever happened to letting a film crew follow some seemingly normal people about and then editing together an eight week show? This so called reality TV is so contrived I am at a loss as to how it got it's title. So in the current world of supposedly everyone being wired and able to get their messages out, is it any wonder that blogging has become as popular as it has?

I know there are not that many great ones, but most have some molecule of original thought (even if that original thought is the same one the last teenager had about school, or the last middle aged worker had about thoughts on office parties) but at least they are genuine in that respect. No deliberate manipulation there, and perhaps that keeps people tapping away at the keyboards all the time. It seems that blogs are places you can read about what ever you choose to, and know that 99.9% of it is real.

Weird

I am not sure what this is about.... I was given the link by a chum, and at first glance it looks like a sort of personal site you know are out there in their millions, but after a while you begin to relise the scale of how much sense this does not make, at all...

All I can tell you is that on the front page it says..."Arrival involving and also the happiness which lives will be enjoyed, together."

And the star of this appears to be someTHING called Sabrina, who looks to be an anime character, but real! You will understand soon enough.



Those wacky Japanese